New hire sales reps – some tips for getting out of the gate

After the excitement wears off of being assigned to that first sales territory, reality begins to set in. Questions start crossing your mind – “How am I going to deal with those competitors who have been out here forever?” “How am I going to appear credible to the customers?” “Am I going to be able to learn all this stuff?

Let’s not make too big a deal of the dark side – in the light of day it’s not that scary. And, fortunately people that go into sales tend to be smart, confident, and hard working. If you parlay those three characteristics a lot of problems can be put to bed.

With that said what are some tips that might make the new hire sales rep journey a little less rocky. Here are some best practices:

Learn the customer’s business.

Understand who is involved in making the decisions.

Be passionate about your business – it wears off on the customer.

Focus on your customer’s needs.

Don’t talk too soon and too much about your products

Don’t over-promise and do what you say you are going to do.

As top sales performers will share, there is a lot more to it that. However, these ideas can help you get out of the gate and going in the right direction.

About Richard Ruff

For more than 30 years Dr. Richard Ruff and Dr. Janet Spirer - the founders of Sales Horizons - have worked with the Fortune 1000 - such as UPS, Canon USA, Smith & Nephew, Boston Scientific, Owens & Minor, Textron - to design and develop sales training programs.
During his career Dick has authored numerous articles related to sales effectiveness and co-authored "Managing Major Sales", a book about sales management, "Parlez-Vous Business" which helps sales people integrate the language of business into the sales process, and "Getting Partnering Right" – a research based work on the best practices for forming strategic selling alliances.
Dr. Ruff received his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Tennessee and a B.S. from Rennsselaer Polytechnic Institute.